Saturday, October 26, 2013

Sat Oct 26th Todays News

Children lose their joy of playing with trees? Is that the fault of education? Upbringing? Nature? My favourite female role models include Margaret Thatcher, Hypatia and Elizabeth 1st .. and Martha Washington .. the latter because she is, well, family. Time magazine denounced as conservative. But, it has never achieved such heights. Suddenly, journalists feel energised tracking down expense claims, unless it is an electricity bill. A group of five people were assaulted in Sydney for being Jewish, by a group that remains un-described and may be Presbyterian. The debate as to wether Aboriginal peoples are the same species has apparently begun among leftists. Global Warming faith has the same academic rigour as Cholesterol science. Teachers in NSW are instructed to claim bush fires are a result of Global Warming. ABC disses a warming skeptic. Union success at lifting union leaders out of poverty. Media conspiracy to silence conservatives.
===

Tim Blair – Saturday,October 26,2013 (3:29pm)

Former Sunday Age editor Gay Alcorn discovers the joy of expenses coverage:

As an editor, I always found scandals around politicians’ expenses such as travelling to exotic places for meetings or spending hundreds on restaurant meals reliably dull. Usually, they are tabloid fodder, designed to foster outrage about those greedy bastards living it up on taxpayers’ dollars. Often, the stories encourage cynicism about politics at a time when trust is already fragile.

But the recent flurry of expenses revelations has a different flavour …

Tim Blair – Saturday,October 26,2013 (3:25pm)

Tim Blair – Saturday,October 26,2013 (2:16pm)

Stuntman and director Hal Needham has died at 82 following a colourful life that sometimes offended fancy types:

Critics weren’t crazy about the films, which included “Hooper” and “Stroker Ace.” In 1981, Roger Ebert called “The Cannonball Run” the story of a wild, cross-country car race, “an abdication of artistic responsibility at the lowest possible level of ambition …”

A GROUP of five people were violently
attacked on the street in Sydney’s east early this morning in what
witnesses have called a racially motivated attack.
Police said the group of four men, aged 66, 48, 39 and 27 and a
62-year-old woman were walking along Blair Street when they passed a
group of eight males about 12.30am.
Police ... arrested two 16-year-old males and a 23-year-old man and are questioning them over the alleged anit-Semitic attack.
All five adults were injured suffering concussion, a fractured cheekbone, a possible broken nose, lacerations and bruising…

Adam, 18, who didn’t wish to give his surname, said the fight was
unprovoked and the teens were yelling anti-Semitic slurs at the group.

Early in last week’s article, reference was
made to “our own mental health strategies, within our terms of cultural
reference and understandings of mental health”. Such phrases can imply
that Aboriginal people have a need for services different from that of
other Australians.
Later they refer to Aboriginal Australians, describing their mental and
physical health in terms of connections to “traditional lands” and a
“spiritual dimension of existence”.
While such ideas may please those who embrace a romanticised view of
Aboriginal culture, the majority of Australians indentifying as
Aboriginal are very similar to Calma, Dudgeon and myself. That is, while
having some Aboriginal ancestry, many are virtually indistinguishable
from non-Aboriginal Australians in how they think and act.
Most importantly, they have the same fundamental needs and aspirations as other Australians.

Tony Abbott has decided
to get back to some public politicking. He today unleashed on Labor
leader Bill Shorten’s refusal to back the axing of the carbon tax,
calling him “Electricity Bill” and “Bill Shock Shorten”.
You may hear that a fair few times.
And this jibe at the man who helped to bring down both Kevin Rudd and
Julia Gillard, and now should ditch the carbon tax that killed both:

The recent Catalyst show had a piece on scientific fraud, manipulated
graphs, hidden contrary data, malfeasance, political manipulation,
denigration of opponents, dismissal of contrary evidence, dismissal of
research that did not prove the theory, and the evidence of people who
worked in the real world and saw that the theory was untrue.
The subject was saturated fat and cholesterol in diets and it all seems
to have been a con. If they had substituted “man-made climate change”
for saturated fat and cholesterol they would not have needed to change
another word.

When you look at the data, it’s very clear - everything that we have
been told about saturated fat and cholesterol is a bold-faced lie. It’s
just not so.

Dr Maryanne Demasi

But isn’t there good science behind this?…
Dr Ernest Curtis
The classic study by Ancel Keys is a textbook example of fudging the
data to get the result that you want out of a study. And, unfortunately,
there’s a lot of that that goes on.

Dr Jonny Bowden

If you look at the ‘science’ that actually the dietary guidelines were
based on, the early stuff was so badly done, so filled with confirmation
bias, it would never even pass muster today. And unfortunately most
doctors don’t know this.

AN earlier version of this article misstated that NSW is
in southwestern Australia. It is in southeastern Australia. An earlier
version of this article misstated the name of the executive secretary of
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is Christiana
Figueres, not Christina. An earlier version of this article misstated
the name of a former prime minister of Australia. She is Julia Gillard,
not Gilliard.

This last week bushfires have been raging in
the Blue Mountains. Just to the west of the Blue Mountains is the town
of Bathurst. Bathurst has one of the longest temperature records of any
locality in Australia, with daily maximum and minimum temperature
measurements recorded at the jail from 1858, and from the agricultural
research station since 1909. This temperature record shows that
contrary to popular perceptions, it has not been getting hotter at
Bathurst.
If we consider the longest temperature record, which is the daily mean
maximum temperatures for Bathurst jail from 1858 to 1983, the hottest
day was January 12, 1878, see Chart 1. On that day, 135 years ago, a
mean maximum temperature of 44.7 degree C was recorded.
There are no temperature recordings for the jail after 1983, but
recording started at Bathurst airport in 1990. The airport data
indicates that the hottest day during recent times was on February 15,
2004 with a mean maximum of 40.7 degree C…
The adjusted and homogenized data for Bathurst indicates that the
hottest days on record are January 11, 1939, followed by January 14,
1939 at 40.7 and 40.6 degree C, respectively. January 12, 2013 was also
hot, with a mean maximum of 40.2 degree C recorded at the Research
Station…
In summary, even using the adjusted and official data for Bathurst,
Chart 3, temperatures are not exceptionally or unusually hot now. If we
consider the longer record and the ‘unadjusted’ data, it was much hotter
in the late 1870s and then again in late 1930s than it is now, Charts 1
and 2. This is consistent with what we know about natural climate
cycles.

The following email is one that originates from a professor high up in
the NSW education system that was sent to all the Department of
Education and Training principals in NSW. It was then forwarded to [a
teacher by her principal] with the suggestion that it be used in class
to teach the children about the consequences of climate change.

In the light of what quite a number of our Principals, teachers,
students, parents and everybody else affected by the catastrophic
bushfires have been facing – and no doubt will continue to face in
coming months - with such courage, commitment and resilience, I found
this article in today’s edition of The Conversation very interesting.

It is the first time that I have come across research investigating what
fire fighters believe about global warming. As I assume that this
topic would come up in teaching and learning within various KLAs, your
teachers may be interested to read it. You can access it at:

Paul
Dr Paul Brock AM FACE FACEL
Director, Learning and Development Research, Office of the Director-General, NSW Department of Education and Communities
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney
Honorary Research Fellow, University of New England
Honorary Associate, The Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney
Vice Patron, Motor Neurone Disease Association NSW

Note the title I have put in bold.
The article is nothing more than a summary of the opinions of some firefighters, many of them activists from a Left-wing union. It is, essentially, worthless in determining the effect of global warming on the fires.
The minister for education in NSW is Adrian Piccoli. Does he really think schools should be used to promote green activism and the global warming scare?

Liberal Senator Christopher Back was CEO of the Bush Fires Board of
Western Australia and says bushfires are best prevented not with a
carbon tax but a fuel-reduction burn:

Long-experienced forestry managers would regard 5 to 8 tonnes/hectare of
flammable fuel as the upper, safe limit to send in crews to suppress
fires.
In the Black Saturday fires of 2009 in Victoria, fuel loadings of 50 to
80 tonnes per hectare and even higher were recorded – up to ten times
the recommended load. It will be interesting to learn what they were in
the Blue Mountains…
Green groups and others opposing fuel reduction strategies need to
reflect on the perverse impact of their position and the influence they
have had on governments’ policies in recent years. Their efforts to
‘save the environment’ have resulted in the decimation of this very
asset… The 2013 fires could contribute more than a third of Australia’s
greenhouse gas emissions this year…
In eucalypt dominated bush, management of the South West Australian
forests is the international benchmark for control of fuel loadings… In
WA, the aim is to cool burn around 10% of the jarrah forests annually.
In many Eastern Australian forests it is estimated the figure achieved is around 2% or less. It is simply not enough.

Bushfire expert David Packham tried to tell 7.30 we had to burn our bush
every 10 years to cut the leaf litter that turns our fires into
infernos, a level of burning NSW doesn’t come close to reaching.
But after just 69 words, 7.30 handed back his microphone to chatterers
whose living depends on the warming scare - two green activists and a
scientist from Climate System Science.

Packham has told me what actually happened:

Briefly, at 7.30 request I came into Melbourne a three hour drive and
spent 50 minutes with the 7.30 folk. I estimate about 35 minutes was in
interview.
I was asked to confirm that the fires in NSW were unprecedented in being
so early in the season. I said no, they were not and offered
information from Luke and Mc Arthur “Bushfires in Australia -1976”
(Aust Govt Publishing Service) which was not accepted.
When the question was put as to the role of global warming, again I said “not involved”.
That was not an acceptable answer and it was clear that it did not fit with the predetermined agenda.
My sadness at the termination of my life-long love of the ABC because of
this very unethical journalism - at least of the news division - is
not only sadness but also a touch of fear for our democracy.

Bolt is not so much commentator as professional reductionist and
self-styled prophet of simple, clarion “truths” – the more unspeakable
the better.

I have never styled myself as a “prophet” of anything. Nor do I believe
that “the more unspeakable” my truths “the better”. Is pointing out that
the world hasn’t warmed as climate models predicted truly an
“unspeakable” truth? Is warning that weak border laws were luring
people to their deaths an “unspeakable” truth? Is arguing against
race-based discrimination and the insistence on “racial” identity truly
“unspeakable”? Is denouncing state censorship of political opinion
really “unspeakable”? Is pointing out the monstrous waste and growing
debt of the past Labor governments now “unspeakable”?
I think Murphy has confused the alternative meanings of the word
“unspeakable”. She suggests I am most happy saying things unspeakably
shocking or disgusting, when it would be more accurate to say my
notoriety among her circle comes from me speaking truths which many in
the Left would prefer not spoken - and which must be punished,
denounced, censored.
She also misuses the word “reductionist”. It seems what she really means
is simplistic, and there is indeed a problem if we reduce complexity to
cartoonish simplicities. But there is a greater problem if we build
massive empires of thought in defiance of a plain and simple truth. That
the world hasn’t warmed significantly in 15 years is indeed a challenge
to the great global warming juggernaut. That Labor’s carbon tax policy
will at best cut the world’s temperature by 0.0038 degrees over a
century does indeed make the entire climate change bureaucracy seem a
massive act of folly and delusion. That someone has only one
great-grandparent in eight with Aboriginal ancestry does indeed make
strained their insistence on demanding special recognition, laws and
preferment on the grounds of their Aboriginal “race”. That a child was
actually rescued from rape or starvation does indeed not make them
“stolen”.
You see, some things are indeed simple, and cannot be disguised or
overcome with complexity. A knife still cuts the Gordian knot. The
emperor still has no clothes, no matter how many Tim Flannerys he
appoints to praise the embroidery.
If Murphy does truly mean “reductionist”, I can only say her own article
is an example of the genre, overlooking a complexity of motives,
ambitions and considerations to produce a caricature of a
my-way-or-highway lectern-banging conservative with a three-slogan
agenda, driven more by ideology than reason.
But to Murphy’s column, in which she seems to project the reductionism she denounces:

Proselytising from the bully pulpit of the culture war generally works best when you go easy on the nuance.

Actually, proselytising ultimately works best when you go hard on the facts. Let me demonstrate.

Age warmist, going easy on the nuance: “The planet is heating fast and human civilisation will be wiped out by century’s end.”
A conservative, going hard on the facts: “But there’s been no
significant warming for 15 years, the warming we’ve had so far has
proved beneficial for crops, the predicted weather disasters have not
come and advances in technology and wealth suggest we will be more than
capable of adapting.”

See? Facts will in the end beat the lack of nuance.

Governing exclusively for Andrew Bolt is not an option open to Tony Abbott, and he has the good sense to know it.

Er, and so do I, Katharine.

... if we are traversing the world according to Bolt, it will be, in no
particular order, the myth of anthropogenic climate change, why the ABC
should be privatised, and why the country should not be divided by race
(which is code for giving Indigenous Australians “special rights").

Talk about reductionist, Katherine.
In order: I actually believe man’s emissions are likely to affect climate, but am not convinced that effect is great, negative or worth the present pain of reducing.
I am not convinced the ABC should be privatised, and did not
ask Abbott to commit to it. I simply want the ABC to provide the
pluralist service its charter promises and which would justify its
taxpayer support. I am also concerned that the ABC is killing off
private media outlets, and I’m worried that government controls such an
expanding and dominant media presence. If the ABC proves incapable of
reform, maybe privatisation will indeed be necessary. But let’s see,
shall we? Let’s take a more nuanced position.
And, yes I do indeed believe the country should not be divided by race,
but that is not “code for opposing special rights for Aborigines”. It is
no more than what I say it is: a belief that the country should not be
divided by race. Or more accurately, that we should not divide ourselves
from others on the basis of some trivial or even imagined distinction
of “race”. This is no more a “code for opposing special rights for
Aborigines” that it is a “code for opposing special rights for
Dutchmen”. It is a statement of a principle that many in the Left once
subscribed to.

The prime minister was not inclined to engage on either the dastardly
closet socialism of the ABC, or the supposed fundamental injustice
inherent in recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution.

More reductionism. I do not believe the ABC is in the grip of “closet
socialism”, but of a Left-leaning, green-tinged, anti-conservative
groupthink of exactly the kind Murphy generally exhibits. Can Murphy
dispute it? Even former ABC chairman Maurice Newman has conceded the
point. Nor do I believe recognising Indigenous Australians in the
constitution is a “fundamental injustice”. I simply believe it divides
people by race and is wrong in principle. We are individuals, not
representatives of a “race”. Such a division is also artificial and
grotesquely simplistic. To which “race” does someone with both European
and Aboriginal ancestry belong?

But that said, my own view is Abbott is, at the heart level at least, a genuine pluralist.

He is indeed. But so am I. Both Abbott and I are at one in wanting the
ABC to encourage a plurality of views, not least by having presenters a
plurality of presenters - conservatives and the Left, and even an
anarchist for pepper. It is the ABC that is not genuinely pluralist,
having people of the Left host every single one of its main current
affairs shows.

He might have ambitions to keep the ABC in check through a more rigorous application of false balance...

“False balance”? Now who is the opponent of pluralism, Katharine?

Bolt’s question to Abbott could not have been more loaded: “Why do you
then want the constitution rewritten so that some Australians are given
different status on the grounds of their racial ancestry?”

That isn’t “loaded”. It is a simple statement of how the proposal will breach a very important principle.
This is an example of what I described earlier: a core truth that no
amount of intellectualising and bureaucratisation can disguise or
overcome. When you treat people differently on the grounds of their
“race” you are indeed dividing them by “race”. How could that be
otherwise?
I know that is an “unspeakable” truth in Murphy’s circles. But again: it
is “unspeakable” not because it is shocking and degrading, but because
the Left finds it a truth more conveniently let unspoken. In the
reductionist world of the Left, we are all just representatives of a
race, our complexities reduced to stereotypes.
I think things are much more complex than that. Richer.
UPDATE
Reader Turtle of WA:

As prime minister he has to find a mechanism to deliver the reform,
vital to building a globally competitive economy, which can maximise our
opportunities while also insulating us from any cold winds. And deliver
it now.
But to do so, without breaching his core promises: there will be no Work
Choices or increased GST under a government I lead… On the other hand,
they are arguably precisely what he has to embrace as a matter of
urgency.
The first to build in the workplace flexibility fundamental to
delivering jobs-friendly growth, especially outside the resources
sector; the second as part of real tax reform that could produce cuts in
both personal and especially corporate tax rates…
It could simply be too late to try to move to [such reforms] in 2016,
the probable date of the next election… The worst case, and by no means
unlikely scenario, is an economy that’s turned seriously negative by
then; and a government, battered in the polls, finding it even harder to
commit itself to tough reform…
The US recovery is looking increasingly uncertain and fragile… China is a
completely unknowable curve-ball… A weak China would rip the guts out
of the economy…
Abbott can’t afford to wait to find out. Sweeping reform is vital to
enabling swaths of Australian business to survive high-Aussie prosperity
and a low dollar delivered by any Chinese implosion.
The move to lift the debt ceiling to $500 billion and the announcement
of targeting a budget surplus in 10 years added to the sense of lack of
urgency.

Hockey, busy in waking hours, is beset by three
nightmares: a US financial “event” that sends the Australian dollar into
the stratosphere with lethal consequences across a range of industries;
a cliff-like decline in mining investments that cannot be replaced,
leading to lower growth, weaker revenues and rising unemployment; and
the need for a Keatingesque pre-budget shock that prepares the public
for the Commission of Audit reforms…
The daunting strategic task facing Abbott and Hockey now emerges: they
seek to impose off the Audit Commission a vast fiscal and public sector
efficiency reform on an economy that is fragile and facing great
investment uncertainties…
Hockey is pessimistic about the US. He believes a financial “event” is
likely to happen. The worst-case scenario with US tribulations is the
Australian dollar going to $US1.20 - the opposite of what is needed to
boost the economy.

Have Abbott or Hockey actually announced any of this? The challenges they now face, and the urgency of change?
Better start now.

Back in 1975, 2000 officials were employed by unions with 3 million
members whose membership dues provided a tax-free income stream.
Now 4000 officials are employed, while union membership is down to 1.8
million. So twice as many union officials now live off less than
two-thirds of the membership revenue. Where is the extra money coming
from?

In government, the Labor Party has always paid attention to boosting its
long-term stocks - stacking out boards with like-minded individuals,
funding organisations that support its causes, and even creating
institutions to nurture its agenda.

It works:

On my last visit to the National Museum of Australia I made a mental
note never to take overseas visitors - it seemed more interested in our
failures than our unequalled story of democratic and multicultural
success....
Canberra’s Old Parliament House Advisory Council oversees the Museum of
Australian Democracy, which is housed in the building… [The] current
council includes from the progressive side of politics former Labor
minister Susan Ryan, former Labor MP Graham Edwards, former Labor
senator Susan Mackay and former Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja.
It also includes academics Kate Darian-Smith and Janette Griffin, and
one former Liberal senator, Paul Calvert.
The Cassidy appointment added a prominent ABC political commentator and former adviser to Labor PM Bob Hawke.
If we take the academic appointments as neutral [ha!] , the council
lines up with five left-of-centre members and a solitary right-of-centre
representative. It is nonsense to suggest this couldn’t influence how
political history - particularly recent political events - might be
interpreted.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has suggested moves to oust ABC
broadcaster Barrie Cassidy as chairman of an advisory board amount to a
political witch-hunt…
“We think that processes that are gone through should be respected. We don’t believe in political witch-hunts,” he said.

STATES could be offered incentives to free
billions of dollars to build new motorways and ease the nation’s traffic
congestion, under federal plans to speed up work on big projects.
The Abbott government is considering the support to unlock
up to $130 billion in state assets that could be sold on condition the
cash would go to badly needed roads or other public works…
The Weekend Australian can reveal that Joe Hockey has opened talks with
the states about offsetting the losses they could incur from the
privatisations, such as giving up the dividends they receive from the
utilities…
A key player in that deal, IFM Investors, a global fund manager owned by
about 30 Australian superannuation funds, told The Weekend Australian
it had another $3bn to spend on infrastructure immediately if state
governments could overcome the obstacles to further sales.

The buffoon may have to admit he’s not nothing but wind. Hedley Thomas:

THE Crime and Misconduct Commission in Queensland is
being formally urged by the Newman government to examine Clive Palmer’s
claims that he has documentary evidence of corruption and “illegal
payments” being made to cabinet ministers.
The request by Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to the
anti-corruption agency’s head, Ken Levy, is likely to lead to Mr Palmer
being asked to produce the evidence he has claimed exists, senior
sources say…
Under the Criminal Code of Queensland, it is an indictable offence,
carrying a penalty of up to three years’ jail, to withhold evidence of a
criminal act in exchange for a benefit.
When asked by The Weekend Australian if he was withholding evidence of a
serious crime, Mr Palmer has stated: “Wait to the state election. I
(am) not withholding anything...”

ABC presenter Barrie Cassidy has resigned from a government board at the insistence of Attorney-General George Brandis, following his appointment by Labor the day after the election was called.
Cassidy said he believed remaining as chairman of the Old Parliament
House Advisory Committee would “would shroud the board and the
institution in ongoing controversy"…
Tony Abbott criticised the appointment earlier this week, when it was
revealed by The Australian, saying Labor had “rushed to appoint its
friends to all sorts of positions in the dying days”.
Cassidy {said] ... “The minister explained to me that he has a high
regard for me personally, but nevertheless has (a) concerns about the
process leading up to the appointment; and (b) a strong view that it is
not appropriate to have anybody currently involved in the political
process, whether they be politicians or journalists, sitting on boards
such as these...”

The conservative purge
is on at Fairfax’s radio network. At 2UE Paul Murray is off to work at
Sky News, where he’s now the star, and Jason Morrison has not had his
contract renewed. Lots of talent lost as the station rejigs to become
more a commercial version of the ABC - an aim that explains why The Age is in the toilet. At Brisbane’s 4BC, former Liberal Minister Gary Hardgrave and Greg Cary are also gone.
How easy it is for a Fairfax executive to decide not to go conservative.

That is not right - ed
===Is there really deficit wherever there is profit?

Russell Brand doesn't understand what profit is or where it comes from, but he has a very strong opinion on using force to "redistribute" wealth.
==="Relations between our two countries have never been stronger." Clr Zaya Toma said.
===

Hey Ninjas I'll be judging at the finale of Oxford Arts Talent Quest tonight from 7pm, Come down and check it out! 20 contestants with only four minutes each to win the vote and take home the cash prizes! Rawr!

===

Well our Aunty is again flying her transparent bloomers high on the mast of Anthropological Climate Change theory again. What is to most thinking people, nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme, thats main agenda is to redistribute the wealth of the world and level out first world standards with that of third world ones & is pure Marxism 101, is to the vast majority of ABC Journo's, Presenters & Producers alike, a new religion that in their minds makes Christianity look lie a fad !!!Like the Lemmings they are, this non objective public broadcaster were very clever to strategically line up AL GORE, (the greatest empty suit political loser and US mouth piece for this scam, a man who's own home electricity bill is 14 times higher than that of the average American consumer) on a day when a life has been lost and over 200 livelihoods and homes lost in what is typical bushfire in a country historically known for bush fires at this time of the year. Andrew Bolt once again to the rescue , he is an island of logic in a sea of liberal progressive slime:

The day they gave a Nobel Prize to this fraud for his work in this AGW scheme was the day that all Nobel Prizes that day and after mean nothing more to me than the 2007 Australian of the Year gong they gave to our homegrown version of Al Gore, Prof. Tim Flannery. A Logie or an Emmy has more scientific cred than the Nobel Prize since Gore scored one.

Thing is, left wing media model bullying suggesting to children it is ok. - ed
===Daniel BogoIl gelato più grande della storia...Francesco PiccinI will get three. I might have a friend visit .. better make that four. - ed
===Madu Odiokwu PastorvinThat you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition].(Colossians 1:10, AMP)

Too many people suffer from “destination disease.” In other words, they’ve reached a certain level or obtained a goal, now they’re coasting in life off of what they’ve already learned. Studies tell us that 50% of people, after they graduate from high school, will never read an entire book the rest of their life. One reason is that people see learning as a period of life instead of a way of life. They think, “I’m out of school. I’m done with my training. I’ve got my job.” But, God never created us to reach one level and stop. Whether you’re 90 years old or 9 years old, you should be constantly learning, improving your skills, and getting better at what you do.

The key is that you have to take responsibility for your growth. Growth is not automatic. What steps are you taking to get better? Are you reading books? Listening to teaching CD’s? Are you taking any courses on the internet? Going to any seminars? Do you have any mentors? Don’t just coast through life relying on what you’ve already learned. You have treasure on the inside. Develop your talent and become all that God created you to be.God bless you.=Father,I thank You for making all things new. Thank You for renewing me, restoring me and setting me on the road to victory. Show me Your ways and give me the strength to embrace every opportunity that comes from You in Jesus’ name. Amen.=The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.(Romans 11:29, KJV)

What could be worse than to come to the end of life filled with regrets? “If only I had pursued that dream. If only I had been more disciplined. If only I had taken that step of faith. If only I had forgiven.” Don’t let that be you. You may have put things off a lot longer than you should have, but the good news is that it’s not too late to get started. You can still become everything God has created you to be.

Today, make the decision to stop making excuses. If you always make excuses, you’ll always have one. Don’t wait for a more convenient time. It says in Ecclesiastes, “If we wait for all the conditions to be just right, we’ll never move off of dead center.” Make a decision to just do it! Be a now person. Your destiny is calling out, and it’s never too late to be all that God has created you to be.God bless you.
===
==="Whoever believes in me shall never die." -Jesus
===Tell Secretary Sebelius she works for US! Our tax dollars pay her salary!

SHARE and SIGN our petition and tell Obama it’s time to #FireSeblius for the ObamaCare trainwreck! http://bit.ly/168xwKL
===.. students going to university study their courses designated 101 .. first year first semester .. it isn't LoL ..
===Pastor Rick WarrenARTISTS! Saddleback's #ExCreatisArtsInitiative has opened an Art Gallery at our Lake Forest campus! Check out their FACEBOOK page here:http://on.fb.me/1eQomCI
=I've seen Growth comes from sufferingBlessing comes from givingJoy comes from obeyingHonor comes from servingVictory comes from surrendering=Faith, not feelings, is what pleases God. Doing the right thing even when I don't feel like it."Without faith it is impossible to please God."Hebrews 11:6=Money CAN buy happiness IF you use it to help others."There's more happiness in giving than in receiving" Jesus, Acts 20:25
===
===.. no need to poke it with a chop stick .. it is dead - ed
===Larry PickeringNO NEED TO CHANGE THE MARRIAGE ACT, JUST CHANGE YOUR SEX!

The New South Wales Appeals Court ruled on May 31 of this year that Australians need not tick either "male" or "female" on official documents requesting their gender. Oh really?

So I checked my marriage certificate document and guess what? I found no reference to “male”, “female” or any other gender, only a reference to “bride” and “bridegroom” and nowhere does it state the bridegroom needs to be a bloke.

Therefore, if I was a woman and wanted to marry another woman, I could! Is all this marriage equality stuff just grandstanding?

The terms “lesbian” and “gay” don’t seem to even warrant a box to tick, so who says I’m legally a bloke?

If I wake up tomorrow with an insatiable urge to slip into my wife’s underwear and tramp around the house in high heels why can’t I? I can inform my golf mates I’ll be hitting off from the red markers tomorrow.

My assessment of my own gender is legally my own business.

I mean I sort of know I’m really a bloke because I always need to borrow a cup of sugar when the woman next door bathes topless and I get a woodie when someone wearing lipstick grabs my donger, but that’s really all I’ve got to go on.

But I could be getting all sweaty over the wrong sex.

So what is wrong with, “Do you Carla take this lesbian to be your...?” Nothing! Except that it won’t be a legal marriage because the Marriage Act states clearly that the proposed union must be between a “man” and a “woman”!

And whether you’re a man or a woman is clearly noted on your birth certificate. A legal document on which you were never asked to tick any damned box. Someone else ticked it for you. Bugger!

But all’s not lost!

Lesbian relationships seem to have one blokey partner and one not so blokey partner, so the blokey partner can simply change her gender to a “him”? And the effeminate gay bloke can simply change his gender to a “her”? All legal!

Surely that would be much easier and much less costly than trying to change the Commonwealth Marriage Act through the High Court.
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<...That chinless bitch EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is both as fugly on the outside as well as the inside. A blatant unashamed anti Semite that would look better with a hole in a head to allow some fresh air in her infected head.>

Special Feature Videos

A short film focused on an organization dedicated to the rebuilding of the 3rd Temple in Jerusalem today. We believe that rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem will bring peace and stability to the world.

Israel recently experienced two earthquakes, raising fears that a significant geological event could occur. The earthquakes followed two others that occurred several days before. Although they were all minor in scope, some experts warn that a major earthquake may hit the region in the near future, capable of inflicting fatalities and significant property damage.

Professor Amotz Agnon, a geology and geophysics expert working at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, explained that a strong earthquake in Israel could "lead to thousands of deaths. From experience, we know that everything depends on the time of day an earthquake occurs. The cities of Safed, Tiberias, Kiryat Shmona, Beit She'an and Eilat, unfortunately, are all built above the Syrian-African fault-line."

Exclusivity has a new name! A new and dynamic gourmet food company called Taste from Israel is supporting Israel by offering exclusive gourmet food products emanating from the Holy Land. Imagine over a century ago in the holy city of Jerusalem... A young woman came up with a cookie recipe -- no doubt through Divine inspiration -- which had the local population each morning waiting with bated breath for just a whiff of the intoxicating aromas seeping through the cracks in the stone walls of her kitchen.

Imagine that these cookies were this young woman's way of paying tribute to the Land of Israel using the freshly picked figs and dates from trees in her courtyard as well as raisins from grapes picked directly off the vines in a local vineyard. How special to be able to use ingredients from the Seven Species of Israel elevating an ordinary culinary experience to greater and deeper meaning.

United with Israel recently met with Israeli Economics Minister Naftali Bennett to explore innovative ways to improve Israel's image internationally. As the world's largest pro-Israel community with over two million supporters on Facebook, UWI has an extended friends reach of nearly 400 million people.

Bennett, an outspoken voice for Israel who oversees the Ministry of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, understands and appreciates the power of social media. Minister Bennett was instrumental in forming and promoting My Israel, a popular Hebrew-language Facebook page for Israelis.

Gateway to Zion is a brand new Jewish heritage tour of Israel, uniquely designed for people of all faiths. The tour embraces Israel's non-Jewish friends to join together for a truly "Jewish experience", visiting the beautiful, biblical Land of Israel. Led by an Orthodox Rabbi, biblical Israel will come to life, as the meaning behind Jewish beliefs and practice will be fully explained.

The Gateway to Zion tour of Israel will lead its participants on a journey to discover the roots of the Jewish faith in the place where it all began - the Holy Land of Israel.

When we launched the All In Money Bomb two days ago, we set out to do three things: affect policy in Washington, change culture through entertainment, and elect conservative candidates all across America.

And today's focus - Ken Cuccinelli's race for governor of Virginia - may very well be the most important of them all.

This rock-solid conservative is in real trouble in his race to become Virginia's next governor, so I have decided to dedicate all of today's money bomb funds to aiding his campaign in its final few days!

I can think of no better way to cap off this money bomb than to absolutely flood Ken's campaign with a last-minute burst of funding from the grassroots all across America.

You see, this conservative all-star is in real need of assistance from conservatives all across America. He needs our help to pay for the ads, the mail, the grassroots door-to-door and phone banking, and the media strategy that he'll need to win this campaign.

But he's in real trouble right now. He has been out-raised more than two-to-one by his liberal opponent, Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe.

He's been absolutely buried under vicious attack ads all across the state for months, without the resources to respond.

And a large number of would-be supporters in his own state have turned their backs on him because his pro-life, pro-family, pro-Constitution policy stances have upset the Republican establishment.

Ken's opponent Terry McAuliffe is the complete left-wing package. He supports higher taxes, more regulation of Virginia's coal industry, abortion on demand, and radical restrictions on the Second Amendment.

He is a longtime Democratic Party fundraiser with deep ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. In fact, both of the Clintons were in Virginia earlier this week for several days, campaigning on McAuliffe's behalf.

Hillary Clinton wants to install Terry McAuliffe as governor of Virginia to help her probable 2016 presidential campaign. And if we don't get involved right now, she'll succeed.

Virginia is a vital swing state in presidential cycles, so it's absolutely necessary that we keep it "red" for 2016.

My friend, the battle for Virginia's governor's mansion is the battle for America's future. And I need your help to make sure that conservatives win it.

Please help us finish the All In Money Bomb in a big way. Help us make a difference in Virginia. And help us take our country back!

It’s safe to say that the White House and other Democrats are not going out of their way to draw a distinction between people who purchase health insurance under Obamacare, and those who sign up for fully subsidized Medicare programs expanded under the law...

Protip for the Obama administration: The HHS director should be told to go out of her way to ensure the words “Sebelius joked…” don’t appear in news stories. Not now. Not at any point in the near future...

Michelle's Top Tweets

And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

Mkay.

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George Jones (1896–1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. During World War I, Jones fought as an infantryman atGallipoli before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps. Posted to a fighter squadron in France, he achieved seven victories to become an ace, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a short spell in civilian life, he joined the newly formed RAAF in 1921, and rose steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II. Jones was a surprise appointee as Chief of the Air Staff, and his achievements were coloured by a divisive relationship with the head ofRAAF operations in the Pacific, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock. This was partly the result of a divided command structure, which neither man had any direct role in shaping. After World War II, Jones had overall responsibility for transforming what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a peacetime service that was also able to meet overseas commitments in Malaya and Korea. He was promoted to air marshal in 1948, and knighted in 1953. (Full article...)

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A Bangladeshi child infected with smallpox, 1973. In ordinary type smallpox the bumps are filled with a thick, opaque fluid and often have a depression or dimple in the center. This is a major distinguishing characteristic of smallpox. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was diagnosed on 26 October 1977, and in 1979 the World Health Organization declared the disease eradicated.

“speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:19-20NIV

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"For the truths sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever."2 John 2

Once let the truth of God obtain an entrance into the human heart and subdue the whole man unto itself, no power human or infernal can dislodge it. We entertain it not as a guest but as the master of the house--this is a Christian necessity, he is no Christian who doth not thus believe. Those who feel the vital power of the gospel, and know the might of the Holy Ghost as he opens, applies, and seals the Lord's Word, would sooner be torn to pieces than be rent away from the gospel of their salvation. What a thousand mercies are wrapped up in the assurance that the truth will be with us forever; will be our living support, our dying comfort, our rising song, our eternal glory; this is Christian privilege, without it our faith were little worth. Some truths we outgrow and leave behind, for they are but rudiments and lessons for beginners, but we cannot thus deal with Divine truth, for though it is sweet food for babes, it is in the highest sense strong meat for men. The truth that we are sinners is painfully with us to humble and make us watchful; the more blessed truth that whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus shall be saved, abides with us as our hope and joy. Experience, so far from loosening our hold of the doctrines of grace, has knit us to them more and more firmly; our grounds and motives for believing are now more strong, more numerous than ever, and we have reason to expect that it will be so till in death we clasp the Saviour in our arms.

Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered, we are bound to exercise our love. No narrow circle can contain our gracious sympathies, wide as the election of grace must be our communion of heart. Much of error may be mingled with truth received, let us war with the error but still love the brother for the measure of truth which we see in him; above all let us love and spread the truth ourselves.

Evening

"She gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech."Ruth 2:3

Her hap was. Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but how divinely was it overruled! Ruth had gone forth with her mother's blessing, under the care of her mother's God, to humble but honourable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would find a husband, that he should make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she a poor foreigner should become one of the progenitors of the great Messiah. God is very good to those who trust in him, and often surprises them with unlooked for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us to-morrow, but this sweet fact may cheer us, that no good thing shall be withheld. Chance is banished from the faith of Christians, for they see the hand of God in everything. The trivial events of today or to-morrow may involve consequences of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with thy servants as thou didst with Ruth.

How blessed would it be, if, in wandering in the field of meditation tonight, our hap should be to light upon the place where our next Kinsman will reveal himself to us! O Spirit of God, guide us to him. We would sooner glean in his field than bear away the whole harvest from any other. O for the footsteps of his flock, which may conduct us to the green pastures where he dwells! This is a weary world when Jesus is away--we could better do without sun and moon than without him--but how divinely fair all things become in the glory of his presence! Our souls know the virtue which dwells in Jesus, and can never be content without him. We will wait in prayer this night until our hap shall be to light on a part of the field belonging to Jesus wherein he will manifest himself to us.

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 6-8

Jerusalem Under Siege

1 “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin!Flee from Jerusalem!Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem!For disaster looms out of the north,even terrible destruction.2 I will destroy Daughter Zion,so beautiful and delicate.3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;they will pitch their tents around her,each tending his own portion.”

4 “Prepare for battle against her!Arise, let us attack at noon!But, alas, the daylight is fading,and the shadows of evening grow long.5 So arise, let us attack at nightand destroy her fortresses!”

6 This is what the LORD Almighty says:

“Cut down the treesand build siege ramps against Jerusalem.This city must be punished;it is filled with oppression....

Today's New Testament reading: 1 Timothy 5

Widows, Elders and Slaves

1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds....

Son of Joash or Jehoash, king of Judah. Amaziah came to the throne after the assassination of his father. The writer of 2 Kings gives him unqualified praise for his religious acts (2 Kings 14), but in Chronicles he is accused of gross apostasy (2 Chron. 25:14).

The priest at Bethel who opposed the prophet Amos in the matter of idol-worship ( Amos 7:10).

The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:17, NLT).

Friend to Friend

I am famous for my "brown thumb." Even though we have moved several times over the years, changing climates, states, neighborhoods and soil conditions, nothing has altered the fact that if I touch any living plant, its chances for survival are slim. My husband has fared no better in his numerous attempts to plant trees and flowers. I fear that the "brown thumb" disease is contagious. There is more. I see undeniable evidence that this gardening malady is hereditary. My son, bless his heart, has tried to rescue wilted flower after crispy plant from his mother's clutches. But there is hope! My daughter, Danna, is not only able to keep living plants alive for an impressive amount of time, she can plant seeds and green things will actually grow! It is absolutely amazing to me!

When Danna was in kindergarten she had a very creative science teacher, Miss Kay, who constantly planned fun activities and projects for the children. Danna loved her and was always talking about what she learned in science class. One day, as I waited for Danna in the carpool line, I spotted her standing by Miss Kay, grinning from ear to ear, jumping up and down as if she simply could not wait for me to get there. I pulled up, Danna hopped into the car, gave a huge sigh of satisfaction and stretched out her tiny hand, proudly displaying the reason for her enthusiasm - a wadded up paper towel.

Now I am normally very good at being excited about the things my kids find important, but for the life of me, I could not fathom why Danna would be so thrilled with a crumpled paper towel. "Honey, what is that?" I asked. She looked up at me with sparkling brown eyes and whispered, "Mom, there are seeds in here. Miss Kay gave them to me and I am going to plant them and they are going to grow. Can you believe it?"

Given my morbid experience with seeds, I declined to answer that question but instead, chose to join my daughter in her excitement - until I saw the seeds. Evidently, Danna had been carrying them around all day because when she carefully unfolded the paper towel, all I could see was a big mess of broken, mismatched, crushed and crumbled seeds. Looking into the eager eyes of my daughter I said, "Honey, if these seeds don't grow for some reason, remember that we can go to the store and buy some new ones." Clutching the seeds tightly to her heart and safely out of my reach, Danna said, "Mama, they have to grow 'cause I prayed and asked God to please make them grow and He said He would!" I began planning a trip to the gardening center.

Danna was silent all the way home but when we pulled into our driveway she jumped out of the car and darted into the house, leaving her doubting mother behind. Moments later Danna reappeared with a small paper cup in her hand. I watched as she scooped up dirt from the front flower bed and marched confidently back into the house. I followed her, moaning my silent complaint, "Father, do you realize that your reputation is on the line here? Why did she have to pick that particular flower bed, the one we filled with decorative rocks because nothing, not even weeds, would grow there?" Once again I tried to reason with Danna. "Honey, why don't we just buy some new seeds?" Ignoring my obvious lack of faith, Danna stuffed the broken seeds down into the cup, marched to the kitchen sink and, placing the cup under the faucet, turned the water on full blast. Just as fast as the seeds and dirt spilled over the edge of the cup into the sink, Danna scooped them up and poked them back in, all the way to the bottom of the cup so they could not escape.

"Miss Kay says that they have to have sunshine to grow." With this announcement, Danna placed her soggy cup of broken, mismatched seeds on the kitchen window sill that looks out over our screened-in porch; a place purposely designed to receive no sunlight at all. By this time, I knew my words were falling on deaf ears and decided to let God handle this one on His own.

Several days later, I was standing at the kitchen sink preparing dinner, when I glanced out on the porch to see my daughter's faith on spectacular display. A small paper cup filled with green sprouts confronted my doubting heart. I could not believe my eyes. Dropping the potatoes in the sink, I literally ran to Danna's room shouting, "Danna! Danna! Your seeds are growing!" I found her calmly playing "Chutes and Ladders" with Danielle, her best friend. "Danna! Did you hear me? Your seeds are growing!" A brief glance and knowing smile from Danna said it all. "That is so neat, Mom. I knew they would." She and Danielle resumed their game, leaving me to gaze in awe and wonder at the faith of my child who dared to believe in a broken dream.

I know that you are desperately clinging to the broken and mismatched remnants of your life, wondering how you can go on. Whispers of the enemy creep into your heart, soul and mind, taunting you with the lie that you are just too dirty and broken for God to love or use. It seems as if nothing and no one can change that reality, so you might as well give up, throwing your life away.

Nothing could be further from the truth, girlfriend. In fact, God is drawn to broken people, choosing the most broken to do His highest work. His light shines best through broken people. Never underestimate the power of one, tiny broken seed. Placed in the right hands, it will surely grow into an expression of His beauty for all to see.

Let's Pray

Father, I come to You, broken and desperate for Your love and grace. Please heal the broken places in my life. I surrender my hurt and pain to You and ask You to transform it all into something beautiful that glorifies You. I choose to trust You - not my feelings or human understanding. I choose to walk by faith and not by sight.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Now It's Your Turn

If you really want God to change your life and teach you how to embrace your pain, you must be willing to make several choices:

I choose faith over doubt.

I choose to believe God's Word over man's wisdom or logic.

I choose to stand firm and trust God when the storms of life come.

I choose to count on God's holiness and perfect plan for my life instead of my effort.

More from the Girlfriends

Women are amazing! Every day, we receive e-mails from women who are facing seemingly impossible circumstances, and yet choose to believe and cry out to God. Doesn't sound like enough, does it? In reality, it is everything! No matter where you are, God is with you...and so are we! For more help, check out my book, Escaping the Stress Trap, to discover 9 practical ways to overcome overload. Looking for a Bible Study? Be sure to check out my E-Book Bible Study, Strength for the Storm.

Come as You Are, Mary's NEW Online Bible Study, has just begun. Enroll now and have access to all 2011 lessons. Need a friend? Connect with Mary on Facebook or through email.

I watch things on TV that tarnish my heart. I behave in ways that erode my marriage. I spend money I do not have, say things I do not mean, leave things undone that need to be finished. I react in anger and it misrepresents Jesus.

I have holes: internal voids that limit and define me...and it shows.

If that were the end of my story, I would be in deep trouble. I would break things that couldn't be fixed. I would destroy things that couldn't be restored. I would damage relationships, beyond repair. I would live, unfulfilled and prideful, without my soul feeling settled. Left alone, sometimes my holes have produced such things.

But there is another element to my story, and it brings me great hope. Jesus...with the supernatural ability to fill even my broadest of gaps...draws me into Him, asking me to choose the thing that will make my soul well. It is an important choice to make, for every believer. It is one that results in wholeness.

The decision to choose what will make our soul well is not always easy. Sometimes it will require us to break from something we love that has become a toxic habit. Often it will ask us to give up our will for the will of the Father.

I love today's verse in Ecclesiastes that talks about this choice, "A wise person chooses the right road..." This verse shows us that even when things happen to us without our permission or by the choice of another, we still have a choice in what we will do next.

In my book, {w}hole, I share the story of my family being involved in a scandal that turned our lives upside down when I was in college. In the wake of our turmoil, I did not choose well...acting in ways that ultimately hurt me and others.

But at a certain point I decided I wanted to be different. I wanted to be better and allow God to change my course by committing to truth, even if it hurt. It was a choice I have never regretted, a choice that set me on the "right road" - a road that led to healing and wholeness.

Wholeness-soul wellness-does not come to those who are only halfway committed to it. It is for the person who is tired of living for themselves or as a victim to their experiences...the one who desires to find their true identity...the one with worldly success who still longs for more. Wholeness is available to the person who wants to no longer be defined or limited by anything and is willing to do whatever it takes to change.

Any sacrifice we must choose to make our soul well is always worth the price. Abundance of joy, richness of God's favor, stability of truth and completeness of fulfillment are ours when we decide we are no longer willing to live with holes but instead, desire to be whole.

When we offer our holes to Jesus, we give Him the opportunity to fill them up with Him.

And that, my friend, is always choosing well.

Dear Lord, I want to choose well. Help me not to stand in my own way of wholeness and healing. Where habits need to be broken, I ask that You give me the strength to break from them. Help me not to invest in things that erode my hear; instead, help me press into You and draw from Your deep well of wisdom, peace and love. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Be among the first to read Lisa's new book, {w}hole! Visit Lisa at www.lisawhittle.com and leave a comment to win a free book, plus a personal phone call with Lisa!

When you purchase resources through Proverbs 31 Ministries, you touch eternity because your purchase supports the many areas of hope-giving ministry we provide at no cost. We wish we could, but we simply can't compete with prices offered by huge online warehouses. Therefore, we are extremely grateful for each and every purchase you make with us. Thank you!

Application Steps:How have you chosen well in your life (things that have brought you freedom, etc.)? When you have not chosen well, what has been the difference, and what can you learn?

Reflections:What do I need to do to position myself to make better choices? Is there something I need to break from that prevents me from this choice for wholeness?

Power Verses:1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, "May God Himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together - spirit, soul, and body - and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He'll do it!" (MSG)

Isaiah 56:4, "For this is what the Lord says: I will bless those...who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me." (NLT)

Isaiah 9:6, "His names will be Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings." (MSG)

GOD’S ATTRIBUTES: HE IS INFINITE

Have you found that the longer you live, the more you realize your own finitude? Perhaps you used to think you could accomplish anything, but you've grown to realize you can do what God has enabled you to do and what your own fragile mind and body will allow you to do. You can't be in two places at once. You can't make everybody happy. You can't get treatment for every disease, and you can't be twenty years old again if you've passed that mark. These are not bad things. They are just that quality that we properly and wisely accept: finitude.

We live in bodies that keep us located in one spot at one time. They break; they disintegrate; they fall to pieces. We only know so much, and the more we learn the more we realize how much we do not know. Our knowledge leaks out of these buckets full of holes we call minds. We can build impressive machines, but we are virtually powerless before a tornado or the surges of the ocean.

In every way that we are finite, God is infinite. God is all-knowing (omniscient). He doesn't grow older, doesn't become mentally limited, doesn't show emotional fragility. His power (omnipotence) exceeds that massive energy that holds all matter together. God is present at all times in all places (omnipresence). "'Am I only a God nearby... and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?' declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:23-24 ). When the Hebrews built a spectacular temple in honor of God, wise king Solomon dedicated it by confessing that even that divinely-initiated place would not "locate" God. "The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built" (1 Kings 8:27).

So what does it mean for us that God is present at all times and in all places? It means...

... we don't need to convince God to come and be with us; he is already here;

... we can't hide from God, so we should give up trying;

... even when we are in some dark place, we can call out to God;

... God is at work every place in this troubled world, even though we may not see it;

...in our prayers we don't need to shout, God is not far away;

... being close to God is not limited to Sunday morning;

... our relationship with God is a reality of every moment of our days.

How does that seem to you, today?

Omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence. God is God in ways that only could be true of an absolute God. The implications for prayer and our dependence in faith are enormous. Our prayers do not inform God of facts he is ignorant of. Rather, our prayers are an engaging conversation in which we wait to learn something we didn't know before, or to simply receive the comfort of talking to the God who knows our needs before we even ask him (as Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount). Because we pray to an all-powerful God, it is not the prayer itself that has power, but God. So we should be careful in talking about the "power of prayer." It is not our vocalizations that accomplish anything, and certainly we should never see prayer as some kind of incantation. The power comes when we open ourselves to the all-powerful God, when we become more fully aware of how God stands in the midst of our circumstances, a giant who cannot be ignored, who is never afraid, and who elicits proper fear in people. Omnipresence means that prayer is as effective when offered in your car as in your church, in garbled words or moaning or crying. Prayer requires no antenna pointed in just the right direction at the right time.

Because God is great, something powerful is already at work the moment we say, "Dear God..." Even if the only thing we can say is "Dear God."

Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Click for more.

Are people just pawns in God's chess game?

It often seems that people are caught in events beyond their control, manipulated by God or Satan. They may feel forced into situations they would not choose if they were given a chance. While this seems unfair, there is another way-a higher way-to interpret the circumstances of life. We can see them as God-given opportunities to cooperate with his purpose and plans and, by serving him, to fulfill something far more significant than our own schemes ever could. We are more than pawns in a chess game. We can honor Almighty God by the way we live and die.

Still, many unanswered questions remain. Only God knows why dozens of bystanders had to die in this unfolding drama between Satan and God. We struggle with the fact that some who are righteous have short, tragic lives while others who are wicked enjoy wealth and long life. One thing we can affirm, however: What seems unfair in this life will be made right in eternity. Our problems will be resolved and many of our questions answered.

God has permitted Satan certain freedoms. He is called the "prince of this world" (Jn 14:30) and "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (Eph 2:2). Satan can sometimes use the forces of nature, sickness, plagues and wicked people. Though God dealt a fatal blow to Satan through Jesus' death and resurrection, Satan continues to struggle against God, and will do so until the end (see Ro 16:20).

There are two sides to the suffering of the righteous: the earthly and the heavenly. The apostle Paul understood the tension of living in a corrupt world as one controlled by the Spirit. He placed his trust in God and things eternal-God's justice, mercy and love- not in the temporary things of this world-success, wealth and fame. Paul recognized that our struggle is not against "flesh and blood" (Eph 6:12) and took courage in knowing that our "citizenship is in heaven" (Php 3:20).

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About Me

I'm author of History in a Year by the Conservative Voice aka History of the World in a Year by the Conservative Voice.

I'm the Conservative Voice.

I'm looking to make contact with those who might use my skill.

I have an m-audio mobile pre amp fed by the audiotechnica 2041sp condensor mic pack. Prior to 15/4/06, I'd used a Shure sm-58 that required a nuclear blast to register a sound or the internal mic of my aged imac, which has a penchance to recording my breathing. I also used a Griffin itrip, until the community convinced me it was not hiding my talent as well as the other mics.

I am a Writer and an occasional Math Teacher (Sir, what's the occasion?). I like to sing, having no instrumental talent (cannot even clap in time, and yes, I'm aware singing badly IS obnoxious).

I have performed the finale to Les Miserables before an audience of 500. I have also sung before a similar audience (students, parents) renditions of 'I Will' (Beatles), 'Mr Cairo' (Jon Vangelis) and 'I am Australian' (Seekers). Now I seek another profession because the audience hates me ..